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Indian Jungle

INDIA | Monday, 26 March 2007 | Views [1090]

We had decided to splurge for a day, and stay at the Vythri Lodge in the middle of the Wayanad Jungle. The wildlife sanctuary is supposed to be a great place to go on wildlife safari tours in jeeps, to see wild elephants, tigers, and other jungle animals. The driver contacted his buddy at corporate office to confirm that for $100 USD, we would get our room, all meals, jungle treks and jeep safari tour. When we arrived, it was a different story… no jeep tours, and the treks were 1 hour walks on the resort property. We were stuck, where else to go in the middle of the jungle, after having driven all the way in? So we expressed our disappointment, and used our room to have a fantastic nap on a bed that was more comfortable than we’d been used to. We woke to monkey’s surrounding our room, on the rooftops of ours and our neighbors villa’s. Just in time for masala chai, coffee and cookies, we gulped down the yummy sweets, and headed out on a hike through the tea plantations. In the middle of our hike, we came to a special clearing where the chef from the restaurant and a couple of his cooking buddies where there to serve us tea and more cookies… not exactly the hike experience we had expected, but the masala chai is damn good here, so we’ll sop it up. The wind started to pick up, and a heavy, dense fog blanketed the tops of the hills we were trekking through. The sun had set and the sky was getting dark. Looking up the hill from where we were descending from, we could see chef chai and boys cruising through the tea fields above, their chef hats poking out of the tea shrubs, moving along in single file. We finished up our hike, with an appetite. Luckily the dinner was buffet… and we got to sample all the yummy flavors of South Indian food that were laid out before us. Back at the room, we watched monkeys fly through the trees, and let the sounds of the jungle put us to sleep.

Tags: The Great Outdoors